Starvation triggers various morphological and physiological responses in ciliates. One of the common responses is the formation of dormant structures such as cysts, which have highly reduced metabolic activity that allows survival of the individuals until optimum environmental conditions return. Dormancy represents an adaptive strategy for the ciliates and is also ecologically important for maintenance of microbial diversity. We investigated the diversity of cyst forming ciliates in 42 dried soil samples collected across the continental United States. Together, the samples represent 11 soil types and 5 climate zones. The soils were hydrated with or without hemp seed extract and ~10-50 single cells representing various ciliate morphospecies were isolated from each sample at ~48 hours after hydration. We analyzed the species diversity using 18s rRNA sequences of the isolates and found significant differences in species composition across the samples collected in different soil types. Also, hydration in the presence of hemp seed extract allowed excystation of a higher diversity of species and also allowed longer survival of the ciliates. It is unclear if addition of hemp seed extract simply provided higher nutrients allowing denser growth of bacteria that in turn supported the higher diversity of ciliates. Alternatively, hemp seed extract may directly provide complex nutrients required for excystation of certain ciliate species without significantly affecting bacterial growth. Our results emphasize the need to investigate how nutrient sensing pathways have diversified across cyst-forming ciliates.